The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1887-10-06
PAUPER CHILDREN.
INTERESTING EXPERIMENT GOING
ON AT BANSTEAD, ENGLAND.


Successful Attempt TO Combine Effective
Control with Ample Home Advantages.
Results of the system-Persona1 Com
fort, Education, Diet and Clothing.
! At Banstead, in Surrey, there is being
] worked out an experiment in the education
and bringing up of pauper children which
| is of exceptional interest. Few OF thu
! holders of the mansions of Kensington anc
| Chelsea are aware of the fact that as they
sit cozily in the Pullman express which
takes them to Bril- luton from the dirty me
tropolis they pass with IN mile OF Tree
hold estate in which they uaYe an un .i
vided share, and ON which is b. ing carlIc o
out scheme for giving health n. yIso
to the minds Of the pauper childrc.
| their parishes which promises as success
full results in its own field as ever they in
d1yidually obtained from the invigoratino
| sea breezes to which they are Fastening.
10 minds unfamiliar with the facts as to
pauperism there is something startling in
the knowledge that from these two
parishes in the wealthy West End there
are no less than 700 pauper children to be
cared for, and, If possible, made into use
full citizens. as - -
At Banstead an attempt is being made
to combine effective control with the home
advantages. On the high lands near
the Downs there are erected twenty-three
houses, each standing in its own ground,
together with schools, hospitals, church
and the necessary administrative build
ings, on the twenty-seven acres which
form the little town. A street runs
throughout the length of the site and the
houses and other buildings are arranged
on each side in a roomy, tasteful manner.
Ten OF these houses are set apart for bows
and the remaining thirteen for the girls.
Over each of the boys houses are a house
father and house mother, who are mar
ried. The father follows some trade or
occupation which is of use to the village
and its occupants. One is q carpenter,
another is q tailor, while the others re-
spectively follow their callings as smith,
plumber, shoemaker, baker, gardener and
bandmaster. Over each of the girls
houses is house mother. Each of the
boys houses is occupied by thirty-eight
boys, and each Of the girls houses by
twenty-four girls. The house mother
performs the duties of the home in her
own particular way. Every week she
sends to the store and obtains her weeks
supply of groceries. She cooks for her
children at her own fire and is assisted by
them. She does part Of the washing for
her large family. The children wash the
door, clean the dishes, sweep out the
rooms and perform the other household
duties under her direction. On the
ground floor are the kitchen, general
room, lavatory and the house mothers
room. . ....-... -
Up stairs are the bedrooms. The chill
dren sleep in two rooms and each has O
separate bed. The good old rule of "early
to bed and early to rise" is strictly fol-
lowed. When the children are out of
school they are not made to sit ON forms
against wall with their arms folded and
their toes turned out, staring into va
cancy, as used to be the case; but they are
turned out into the house grounds, to
scamper and play at their own games and
to shout and be boys and girls like other
children, The house fathers cut toys for
their boys, repair their playthings and as
stst them In their little enterprises, just as
real father does for his own boys Some
of the children have animals which they
have purchased with the boarded pennies
they received at chance times, and they
are encouraged to tend them well and are
given facilities for keeping them. Others
of them have fenced off little gardens,
where they raise hardy annual and shrubs. |
The home life is necessarily not so free as
that enjoyed by children in more fortu- |
nate circumstances, but there can be no
doubt that the main characteristics of it |
are there. SIX.
The education of these children is I'M |
dertaken in most praiseworthy spirit. |
The schools are examined every year by |
the inspectors of the education depart |
ment, and have secured satisfactory re- !
ports as to the standard of efficiency and |
the thoroughness of the teaching. AS one |
passed through the boys school and its |
class rooms the eye met the familiar sums |
set as exercises, just as they used to
bother one in the school days gone by. |
The girls school is conducted ON the most |
modern lines. In the infants school there |
was the same thoroughness shown, as
also provision for relieving the strain Of
study on their young minds. The mis-
tress played "See Saw" on q piano in the
schoolroom, while the children went |
hands up, on shoulders, stretch out and
down, to the rhythm of the music.
The greater part of the clothes are made
on the site, and the whole of the bread
baked there. The washing also is done
in the village laundry or in the houses.
1t is practically o self contained hamlet,
with its own roads, sewers and sewage
farm within its borders. AS the children
get up in years they are told off to assist
the skilled fathers and mothers in their
trades. During the three years ended
1884, $50 of the children were placed in
situations as apprentices or at service,
and commenced an independent life on
their own account OF the flfty-nine boys,
some went as hairdressers and pages, aud
others were divided over eleven other
trades. OF the seventy-one girls, sixty
nine went as servants, one as q hairdresser
and one as q dressmaker. AS far as the
have been able to trace them in
their subsequent life, they have conducted
with credit to their training.
The schools have been in full work for
five years, and though that is not a suffl-
cfent period to pronounce definitely as to
ultimate results of the csttage home sys-
tenn, as it is called, yet it is long enough
10 bear most encouraging fruit and the
promise of success.
The dieting of the children is very good.
The clothing is warm and substantial.
The children bear rudy, healthy look,
and are pictures of strong, growing boys
and girls, Some of them are of an I'M
low type, while others have
bright, intelligent faces. They bear an
testimony to the more hu-
name treatment they receive than did
Oliver Twist in the days of unregenerated
Pail Mall Gazette.